Memory's magic carpet ride

Tuesday, April 1,  Auckland, New Zealand

We were up by 7 A.M. and made ready for the day. The Federal Deli called to us and we stopped in for bagel schmears and coffee. A cab ferried us to the Ferry Terminal and we got tickets to Waiheke Island. It was a pleasant forty-minute ride out across the Bay to Waiheke Island. The Russian mega yacht was sailing nearby. A whole section of her aft hull had slid up into the decking revealing a small garage. From it emerged a powerboat carrying its occupants on some errand or other. This boat could well fit in one of the Bond movies.

The Waiheke Island terminal, in Matiata Bay,  is an anomaly in that there is no commercial activity attached to it. Small lots surrounding it held hundreds of cars for the daily commuters into Auckland.

We had arranged for a two-hour tour of the island and the bus was waiting for us as we emerged from the terminal. The driver narrated for us as we climbed up onto the hilltops to follow that narrow lane around the island’s top. It seemed like every turn of the road produced a “wow vista.” We looked out and down onto translucent, crystal clear and jade colored water crashing in frothy surf on bright tan beaches or the dark basalt rocks of an ancient lava flow. The bright azure sky glistened off the emerald green islets strewn about the surrounding Tasman Sea. If this wasn’t a portrait of heaven, it ought to be.

Every bay was chock a block with yachts and sailing vessels of all sizes. From the hilltops you can see the various seamounts that mark the tops of some of the 50 dormant volcanoes that underlie the area.

The surrounding hilltop homes were equally impressive in both size and vistas. Everything here had to be hauled out from Auckland, so even the more modest homes started at $500,000 and ran up to whatever you wanted to pay.

The bus brought us down to Palm Beach for a cappuccino at “Charley Farley’s” beachfront café. The vista of blue sky and tan beach here is eye candy for the soul. Curiously there were but two couples strolling the beach here. The year-round population of the island is only 6,000 people. It swells to 60,000 during the busy summer Christmas season. (opposite of ours in the northern hemisphere)

We continued our tour. We passed several of the twenty vineyards on the island. They grow coffee here and have olive groves that press out a local brand of olive oil as well. It all looked lush and prosperous.

Ostend is the small commercial center for residents. Hardware stores, groceries and that type of thing are available here. We passed through it on our way to Aneroa, the small tourist enclave. The tour ended here. The driver told us where we could catch the hourly bus to the ferry and left us off. We browsed the shops and small restaurants. Most were sro with visitors and tourist cute in appearance. The “Delight Café" sits off the main drag, with an awesome vista out over the bay. We settled in this small gourmet shoppe for some excellent vegetable, pastry tortes. 

It was nearing 2 P.M. and we were mindful of the "last lifeboat syndrome” that affects all island ferries and later trains. It can become a panic crush to get on late in the day. We found the bus to the ferry and road back to Matiata Bay. The ferry was already crowded even at this early hour. I can’t imagine it during the summer Christmas season. We rode back across the bay to Auckland enjoying all of the nautical traffic.  It was 78 degrees on a sunny day in early fall. It doesn’t get any nicer than this.

Celebrex had helped eased the stiffened joints, so we decided to walk across busy Queen St. to Wellesley. It was a river of young people scurrying hither and yon. This is the place for people under thirty. 

At the hotel, I wrote up my notes enjoyed a late afternoon “toonie” and chilled out. It was still early evening when we ventured forth to the nearby “Little Mexico” restaurant on Wellesley. We had some great fish taco dinners with Sangria. It was a good choice for dinner.

The early evening air was warm on our skins as we walked back to the hotel. It had been a pleasant experience on our last day in Auckland. Tomorrow, we would meet up with the Dawn Princess and continue our tour of New Zealand and SE Australia. We were rested and relaxed and eager for the adventure.

                                                                    -30-

                                                       Joseph Xavier Martin